The improvisation of academic development

In this conceptual article, I draw on the concept of musical improvisation to argue that academic developers’ practice can be viewed as a relational and agentic practice determined by context and knowledge. I draw on my dual expertise as a musician/ethnomusicologist, and for the last 6 years an academic developer in an Australian university. The article explores the cognitive and cultural perspectives of musical improvisation and how they can frame the practices and skills of academic developers. Autoethnographic reflections on jazz improvisation, and academic development ground the discussion, and are synthesised with literature on the development of academic developers’ roles as agents of change. I argue that understanding the work of academic developers through musical improvisation could be an effective pathway to surface and articulate the expertise, skills, and evaluative judgment often missed but required to create educational change in higher education.